From Wireless Superstar To... Selling Mortgages?

from the interesting-transition... dept

Thu, Jul 22nd 2004 3:14pm — Mike Masnick

During the boom years, Aether Systems was supposedly going to change the wireless world. A lot of people never understood what they were trying to do, but it was going to be "big." That sentiment helped drive up the stock and make it worth a few billion dollars at one point. So, where are they now? Investing in mortgages. Seriously. The company has sold off all its wireless pieces. The explanation for why: "We were spending more than we were bringing in." Ah, the old burn rate excuse. Of course, this didn't stop them way back when. Over the years they've been public the company has squandered $2.4 billion. Doesn't exactly explain why you go from wireless communications to selling mortgages.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

2 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 22 Jul 2004 @ 9:29pm

Aether...Not surprised...
Not surprised. I used to work there a few years ago. The team knew nothing, and were mediocre at best. At one point Dave Rosi brought in a bag of hot air Vinit Nijhawan to "save" the company. Several $$ later and waste of time, nothing materialized. In fact he presented material to the executive that was plagarized information from a gig that he just started with Taral Networks.
Companies like Aether go public to legitamatilly steel money from the public.
I wonder how many bonus's were paid to the executives over the years for a waste of time. The shareholders should demand for bonus money paid to the executives back to the company.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2004 @ 7:02am

No Subject Given
Sounds to me like your best example of capitalism in the 2000s you could wish for. These guys are simpling chasing the money. Wireless was hot, then it was not. With the refinance boom that has gone on the last few years, it's where the money is. However, now that mortgages have/are growing cold, they'll need a new cash cow to chase.

Can you say nanotech ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]